Circular knitting machine



June 20, 1939.

l W. GROTHEY CIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINE Filed Dec. 9, 1937 2 Sheets-Shet2 |NVEN'i'OR IVAN W. GROTHEY BY HIS ATTORNEYS Patented June 20, 1939UNITED STATES CIRCULAR KNIT TING MACHINE Ivan W. Grothey; Laconia, N.H., assignor to Scott & Williams, Incorporated, New York, N. Y., acorporation of Massachusetts Application December 9, 1937, Serial No.179,005

8 Claims.

This invention relates to independent needle circular knitting machines,and more particularly to means for removing lint from around theknitting elements in such machines.

In certain types of independent needle circular knitting machines, floatstitches or reverse plated stitches for patterning are produced bydeflecting needles radially inward. It has been found that the spacebetween the upper part of the needle when not deflected and the bottomof the slot in which the needle lies tends to become clogged with lint,especially when knitting wool. This clogging eventually reaches thepoint where the needles cannot be bent sufficiently to cause the desireddeflection. It is one object of this invention to cure this diflicultyby removing the lint periodically and automatically in the operation ofthe machine.

needle and in the same slot.

In the drawings, Fig. l is a vertical section through a needle cylinderembodying my invention, the jack on the right side of the machine beingshown at lintejecting level, and the jack on the left side being shownat fulcrum level;

Fig. 2 is a development of the path of the needles and jacks, viewedfrom the inside of the cylinder, the needles and jacks moving from leftto right as they appear in this figure; while' Fig. 3 is a perspectiveview of the upper end of a cleaning jack of rectangular transverse crosssection.

In the ordinary circular knitting machine having independent needleswhich are deflected inwardly for patterning purposes, the needles areeach mounted in a slot on the periphery of the needle cylinder.Heretofore the slot has been deeper at the upper end of the cylinder inorder that the needles may be bent radially inward when patterning. Itis in this pocket that the lint collects and prevents the needle beingdeflected sumciently to cause the desired stitch to be made. Theshoulder of the slot where the needle bends over it as a fulcrum alsotends to become worn. To cure these two dimculties, I place a verticallymovable jack in the slot behind each needle which is to be deflected,and so shape and manipulate this ink that it can act both as alint-ejecting element and also as a fulcrum point for the bending of theneedle.

Referring specifically to the drawings, the machine has the usualbedplate B and needle cylinder 260 su: ported thereon. In the drawingsthere is the usual main horizontal gear ring 30 acting It ischaracteristic of the invention that a jack is provided for this purposebehind the through its sleeve 25l to. turn the needle cylinder, asusual. The needle cylinder is moved vertically by pins 256 in order tochange the length of stitch. The periphery of the needle cylinder isslotted as usual. Each slot contains a pattern jack 6 135, a needle jack380, an independent latch needle N and a novel cleaning jack 213, to bedescribed later. The pattern jacks 136 are selected and then raised by acam 1 which is part of the stationary cam ring 2 carried on the jack camplate 210, all 10 in the same general manner as shown and de- 5 scribedin the patent to Ivan W. Grothey, No. 1,678,385, dated July 24, 1928,and the patent to Albert E. Page, No. 1,969,853, dated August 14,

1934. On top'of the needle cylinder may be a ful- 1 crum ring 216. Abovethe cylinder are located the usual sinker dial 295, inside sinker ring248 and the sinker cap 300. The sinkers S are carried by the insidesinker ring 248 and sinker dial 295, while the needles project upwardlybetween the sinkers. 20 This much of the construction is standard, withthe exception of the fulcrum ring.

Needle deflection can be used to produce float patterns or reverseplated patterns. In the example shown in the drawings, reverse platedpat- 25 terns are produced by deflecting radially inward the needleswhere reverse plated stitches are desired. The general type of mechanismfor accomplishing this is shown in the British Patent No. 438,689 toStandard-Trump Bros. Machine Co. 30 This mechanism includes horizontal'pressers 218 carried in the lower part of the sinker dial and pressingradially inward against presser jacks 211 lying in the slots with theneedles.

In the construction of the said British Patent 35 No. 438,639, it isnecessary to cut back the upper end of the slots in the needle cylinderto give room for the descent of the needle when it is deflected. -It isthis slot which causes trouble by reason of nut packing behind theneedle until it 40 is impossible to deflect the needle head properly.

- According to the present invention, this vacant space is cleaned byputting behind the needle a. cleani'ngjack 213 which is raised up by thepattern jack 136 when the latter is selected. At this 45 ntime the newjack is raised to a point .where it is just about opposite, or a slightdistance above, the sinker ring 2 on top of the needle cylinder 26', asshown at the right side of Fig. 1. This pushes out any lint which mayhave accumu- 50 lated in the space while the new jack was down. Afterthe jack has been raised to lintejecting level, it is drawn-down againuntil its upper end is at the level where the needle is flexed forreversing. It will be seen that when 55 the jack is in this position itserves as a fulcrum point for the needle, and since the jack isremovable the fulcrum or deflecting point is removable and can bereplaced if wear occurs. In the drawings the operating butt of this newcleaning jack is designated by the number 214. Its lower end alwayscontacts the upper end of the pattern jack 136, in the embodiment shownin the drawings. The usual needle jack 380 rests on the butt 214 of thecleaning jack and is therefore lifted when the cleaning jack is lifted.The upper end of this needle jack underlies the operating butt of theneedle. It will be obvious that when the cleaning jack is raised asufficient distance the needle will in turn be raised. The presser jack211 being above the foot of the needle, it will be raised along with theneedle if the latter is raised sufliciently high. However, this presserjack has an operating butt of its own and can be lowered separately.

It is important that the upper end of the cleaning jack be properlyshaped, as otherwise it would only serve to jam the lintfurther down inback of the needle. In order that it may function properly and keep thelint above itself, the upper end of the cleaning jack 213 preferablycorresponds to the maximum width of the jack and is so formed as toprovide a substantially fiat surface 215 which extends at an angle notsubstan-' tially greater than 90 with respect to the front and rearfaces of said jack, one example of such a construction being shown inFig. 3. There is thus provided an outer edge 215a which, in one positionof the jack, serves as a fulcrum for the needle N, and an inner edge215b which corresponds substantially in length to the width of theneedle slots in the needle cylinder 260 and to the width of the slots inthe sinker ring 248. In other words, the upper end 215 of each cleaningjack 213 is disposed substantially at a right angle to the length ofeach jack and is of a width corresponding substantially to the width ofeach of the slots in the needle cylinder 258 and in the sinker ring 248,and is of a depth corresponding substantially to the depth of each ofthe spaces existing between the inner face of each needle N and the walldefining the bottom of each of the slots in the needle cylinder 288 andin the sinker ring 248. Hence the jack contacts the inner face of theneedle and the wall defining the bottom of the slots in the needlecylinder 260 and in the ring 248 during the reciprocating movements ofsaid cleaning jack. The shape of the upper end 215 of each cleaning jackmust be such as to retain the lint rather than let it pass below andjam. By having no portion of the upper end 215 of the jack extend asubstantial distance above the outer and inner edges 215a and 2151).

.respectively, when the jack is raised to lint-ejecting level, there isno portion of the jack which will project upwardly into the fabric inthe throats or ledges of the sinkers. In Fig. 2 the needles N have beenbroken away for a short distance below and above the upper ends 215 ofthe cleaning jacks in order that the positions of the upper ends of thecleaning jacks may be more apparent. The needles and associated elementsare moving from left to right in this figure. When a pattern jack 138has its lower end rocked radially into the cylinder, it-misses theraising cam 1H and remains at the height at which it approaches thatcam. The upper end of the cleaning jack in this instance remains at thesame level until the butt 38f of the needle jack above it contacts a camsurface 219 and brings it down a short distance. In this position theupper end 215 of the cleaning jack is at the socalled fulcrum levelopposite the upper face of the fulcrum ring 216. The pattern jack staysat this level until it is being prepared for selection on the nextrevolution just prior to the raising cam 14!. The needles N associatedwith such nonselected pattern jacks will, by virtue of their operatingbutts n, be cleared by the leading stitch cam 36l and pass through theregular knitting wave under cams 351, 360, etc., as usual, all needlesthereafter taking the dotted path indicated in Fig. 2.

Assuming that a pattern jack has not been depressed or selected out, itsoperating butt 133 will ride up the raising cam 14!. This will raise notonly the pattern jack but also the needle jack 380, the needle N and thepresser jack 211. This movement raises the needle butts n to a levelwhere they will be maintained at a given height and then raised by a caml6! to position the presser jacks, the needles being thereafter loweredby cam I62 to a level where they will pass under the top center cam 351,as usual. In the meantime, the needle jacks and the pattern jacks havebeen lowered by. the cam 219 to the same level as the non-selectedjacks, and with them go the cleaning jacks 213 whose butts 214 underliethe butts 38l of the needle jacks. The needles and presser jacks raisedby the needle jack 380 are lowered by their own operating butts afterthe cleaning jacks and the pattern jacks have descended. Thecoordination and operation of the horizontal pressers 218 with thepresser jacks 211 are practically identical with that shown in theBritish patent to Standard-Trump Bros. Machine Co., No. 438,639, abovereferred to, except that a small shoulder I63 may be formed at the outeredge of the presser jack 211 to contact the upper edge of the horizontalpresser 218 and prevent a presser jack from being dragged down ahead ofthe proper time by frictional contact with descending needles. It willbe observed that the upper end of the presser jack which contacts theneedle for deflection does so at a level above the fulcrum level of thecleaning jack and that the cleaning jack takes the pressure of thebending.

It will be observed that by this construction I not only have provided afulcrum point which is easily changed in case of wear, but that I haveprovided a construction in which there is no vacant space behind theneedle below the top of the needle cylinder, and the space behind theneedle above this level is cleaned of lint at each revolution of thecylinder.

Any manipulation 'of the cleaning jacks and any configuration of theupper ends 215 of said jacks is satisfactory as long as they are at theproper level for deflection of needles and said upper ends are so shapedas to prevent lint from collecting behind the needles, either betweenthe needle and the jack or between the jack and the back of the slot orsinker ring.

Many modifications which do not depart from the scope of my inventionwill occur to those skilled in the art.

What I claim is:

1. In a circular knitting machine, a slotted needle cylinder,independent needles in said slots and jacks in said slots in back of theneedles, the upper end of each jack being formed to provide a surfacedisposed in a .plane extending at substantially a right angle to thelength of the jack and with an outer edge contacting the inner face ofthe adjacent needle and an inner edge contacting the wall defining thebottom of the adjacent slot in the needle cylinder to prevent lint fromabove wedging behind the needles, in combination with means adapted toraise the jacks to lint-ejecting level periodically.

2. In a circular knitting machine, a slotted needle cylinder,independent needles and lintejecting jacks in said slots, the jacksbeing in back of the needles and each having an upper surface disposedin a plane extending at substantially a right angle to the length of thejack and of a width corresponding substantially to the width of theshank of said jack, in combination with means adapted to raise the jacksto lint-ejecting level periodically.

3. In a circular knitting machine, a slotted needle cylinder,independent needles in said slots and lint-ejecting jacks in said slotsin back of the needles, each jack having an upper surface disposed in aplane extending at substantially a right angle to the length of the jackand of a width corresponding substantially to the width of the shank ofsaid jack, in combination with means adapted to raise the jacksselectively in a lint-ejecting wave as the selected needles are beingraised to take yarn.

4. In a circular knitting machine adapted to make special stitches byneedle deflection, a needle cylinder, independent needles and jacks inslots therein, the jacks being at the bottoms of the slots, the upperends of each of said jacks being disposed in a plane extendingsubstantially at a right angle to the length of the jack and including afront edge of a length corresponding substantially to the width of theshank of said jack, said upper ends of the jacks serving to keep lintabove the jacks and said front edges of said upper ends of said jacksserving as fulcrums for needle deflection, in combination with means toraise the jacks to lint-ejecting level and to place them in fulcrumposition.

.5. In a circular knitting machine, a needle cylinder with slotstherein, independent needles in said slots, jacks in at least some ofsaid slots in back of the needles and having operating butts below theneedles, the upper end of each jack corresponding in width and depth tothe shank thereof and being disposed at an angle not substantiallygreater than with respect to the length of the jack to prevent thepassage of lint below it, in combination with means adapted to move thejacks to lint-ejecting level whereby the needles are raised. I

6. In a circular knitting machine, a needle cylinder with slots therein,independent needles in said slots, and needle jacks in said slots belowsaid needles, in combination with cleaning jacks in at least some ofsaid slots in back of the needles and having operating butts below theneedle jacks, the inner and outer edges of the upper end of each jackpresenting, respectively, a lint-catching edge to the back of the slotand to the back of the needle, and means adapted to raise selected jacksto lint-ejecting level at each revolution of the machine.

'1. In a circular knitting machine; a slotted needle cylinder; a seriesof webholders above said cylinder; independent needles in the cylinderslots; and lint-ejecting jacks in the cylinder slots, the upper end ofeach jack being substantially flat and extending substantially at rightangles to the length of the jack and presenting an inner lint-catchingedge to the back of the slot; in combination with means adapted to raisethe upper ends of the jacks above the cylinder slots to about the levelof the throats of the webholders to eject lint.

8. In a circular knitting machine, a slotted needle cylinder, a seriesof webholders above said cylinder, independent needles in the cylinderslots, jacks in the bottom of the cylinder slots, and means to press thehook ends of the needles radially inward, in combination with meansadapted to raise the tops of the jacks above the cylinder slots to aboutthe level of the throats of the webholders to eject lint and to a levelwhere the upper edge of each jack can act as a fulcrum for needledeflection by said pressing means.

IVAN W. GROTH EY.

